and his stone pillow. What had always been important to him about that tale was the fact that Jacob had looked up from his place of sleeping at the magic place of Luz and had actually seen YHWH! That was the way the story was always told to Saul. Jacob, the wily trickster had seen YHWH! Saul had been told again and again that no one could see YHWH and live. Yet, Jacob had done so. What would it be like to see YHWH? What would YHWH look like? Tall like me, thought Saul? Bearded? Could YHWH be a woman, sweet and helpful like Saul’s mother? Unthinkable! Or perhaps not human at all, a cloud, a fire as in the Exodus wilderness, a giant dragon as one of the psalms said? Saul often had these silent ruminations, but he seldom shared them with anyone. Others might think him foolish or stupid or blasphemous.
On the sixth day they found themselves near the village of Zuph, a tiny place close to the larger village of Ramah. More recently, Ramah had been the scene of contention between Samuel and some men of Beer Sheba over leadership in the land after Samuel’s eventual death. Saul and Joseph had heard of the struggle against Samuel’s leadership on account of his two unworthy sons, but there had apparently been no resolution, since those who had gathered at Ramah had simply left the place at Samuel’s command. No leader had been chosen, and Samuel had remained alone in the city—or so it was rumored. Information was difficult to come by after the shock of the angry confrontation with YHWH’s prophet.
They were now only about a day from home again, and Saul was anxious to see Gibeah and his father.
He turned to Joseph, and said, “We need to get home, because my father has now probably stopped worrying about the donkeys, which can be replaced by others, and will now be worrying about us, who cannot really be replaced in quite so simple a way.”
Saul rarely joked, so Joseph missed the tiny witticism how humans could be considered more worthy than donkeys. The servant had an idea that might solve their problem and was somewhat surprised that his master had not thought of it, too. It came to him that they were barely a short walk from that Ramah, Samuel’s hometown. If the prophet was still in Ramah, as some said he was, he perhaps had gone to his house to recover from his harrowing fight about his future, the future of his sons, and the future of the land. If he was there, Joseph knew what they could do. Joseph played coy with Saul at first as he revealed his plan.
“A small way ahead is the town of Ramah. There is a man of God there who is greatly honored by everyone.”
Well, Saul of course knew at least by reputation whom Joseph meant—the man of God was Samuel—and the fact was that not everyone did honor him as before, as the recent conflict there had made all too clear. Though Saul had never actually seen the prophet, he like all Israelites, scattered throughout the hill country, knew his power and his great actions for all the people. Samuel was far and away the most famous man in the land.
“Everyone knows that whatever he says always comes true.”
Saul knew that to be so; Samuel had long claimed that his words were in fact YHWH’s words, and Saul had no reason to doubt the prophet in this; he had been leading the land in every way for well over fifty winters, long before Saul had been born.
“Let’s go into Samuel’s city; perhaps he can tell us about this journey we have been on.”
Saul thought it was an odd way to say that they should ask the great Samuel to perform some divining trick to help them find the lost animals. Did not the famous man have more important things to do than find lost objects for anyone happening to wander by his town? Still, Saul would gladly receive help with the dumb beasts, since he was heartily sick of the chase.
“Even if Samuel is in the city, what can we bring in the way of payment? I assume that mighty soothsayers like Samuel do not do their magic for nothing. We have no food, no present, no gift of any kind. I suggest we move on to Gibeah, and tell Kish that the donkeys are nowhere to be found.”
But Joseph fumbled in his robe and produced, very surprisingly, a tiny quarter-shekel silver piece. Saul at first was irritated that Joseph had not mentioned this bit of money earlier, since Saul had thought they had spent all they had in the fruitless search. His second thought was that no decent seer would work his wonders for such a paltry sum, but he decided that they had little to lose in the attempt. The famous man, both seer and prophet, might be insulted; but, then again, after his recent confrontation with an increasingly divided people, he might be anxious for the simple task of divining a few strayed beasts. Success might help his reputation and soothe his bruised ego.
“Very well, “ said Saul, “let’s go,” and with that the two of them entered the gates of Ramah.
The town was typical in design. Its walls were a mixture of undressed stones and mud, slightly higher than the height of a normal man; Saul, of course, could see over them easily. The streets were a warren of shorter and longer passageways, dotted on both sides by minute mud-brick huts, roofed with palm and large tree branches, doors covered with woven rugs among the richer places, sheep’s hides on those meaner hovels. The dry streets were thick with dust, dotted with the dung of many sorts of beasts, peopled by shouting children, harried women, and sweating men, a great mass of confusing smells and sights, all familiar to anyone entering a village in the poor land of Israel. Ramah was built into the side of a hill, the better to protect itself from attack from the rear. The wall needed only to be built around half the place, the other half well guarded by the rocky outcrop that formed both its backdrop and its rear guard. The lowest part of Ramah was at the entrance gate; all who came there found themselves immediately walking uphill into the city.
Saul and Joseph moved directly toward the city center, as always marked by the well, the gathering place, the community center, the origin of news and gossip along with the life-giving water that made the city possible at all. Of course, cities live on more than water; news and gossip are as life giving and important as the fresh liquid that flowed forth from the ancient well that supplied water even in the driest of seasons. As the strangers approached the well, some lively girls came to draw some water. There were three of them, two veiled, but one whose dark eyes flashed in admiration at the sight of the giant and handsome young man, accompanied by his much smaller, and much less interesting, servant. Saul smiled at the dark-eyed one, appreciating her own beauty and energy, drinking in the obvious flirting, with its not-so-hidden promise of future pleasures. Kish’s lost donkeys briefly clip-clopped from his mind, as his vision filled with those dark eyes and the striking face from which they gazed.
“Is the seer here?” he asked, not attempting to hide his obvious pleasure at the woman and her companions. Saul imagined that these young women would not be all that interested in the magic of the soothsayer, but the reputation of Samuel made it certain that they would know whether or not he was at home today. As Ramah’s most famous resident, his activities would be known by nearly everyone.
But the answer he received from the women was certainly different than he had expected. They fairly bubbled with excitement and let loose a torrent of words, many of which had little to do with the simple question he had asked.
“Yes! There he goes just ahead of you! (They pointed vaguely toward the hill.) He has come to the city just today, because the people have a sacrifice today, and, of course, the great Samuel is the only one who can lead the ritual. Close to the entrance to the city, back from where you have just come, you can find him, before he goes up to the holy high place to eat. (Now they pointed the other direction!) The people will not eat until he comes, because he alone can bless the sacrifice. After that, those eat who are called. Now go up there! You will meet him right away!”
And with a gaggle of giggles the three hurried away, though they had forgotten completely to fill their water jars. Saul was very confused by what they had said. They first said that Samuel could be found up at the high place of sacrifice but had then gone on to say that he was at the moment near the gate of the city, the place from which Saul and Joseph had
